I mean definitely a fair bit but also their is definitely a lot teams that break the mold on that so it clearly isn't the only option,

For example,
Houston: who have been rather mediocre since stage one season one but carried a huge amount of publicity off there team personalities and their content)

Shanghai: legit became one of the most popular teams by sucking at the video game in season one

Atlanta: middle of the pack team with strong personalities and content holding a large following (yes they came for defran but stayed for the brand)

I think I really comes back to the old "is marketable" meme from pre-season one.

And a lot of that marketability comes from the angle that the team takes in marketing. Nyxl and Justice do provide very good opposites in showing that though, the Nyxl marketing works so well because they marketed around 2 things, there city and there player personalities. Two things with really worked well for them due to strong NY pride (especially in a generally good team) and the amount their players put personalities forward. Where as Justices marketing appeals to American patriotism more than it does locally, as such a bunch of Korean players and a Swede being pushed as the American team, while that just aint marketable without the results to push past it.

Tldr, marketing has to match the roster and branding together to be successful which is really what matters

Just one thing Snivy, double check your months in the opening sentence, then the article is golden

Hey I'm just saying Atlanta do kind of have an opening for someone who covers that babybay hero pool and ta1yo does fit the bill

The Glads had to make room for big boy sideshow to come in and party

Big call washington to win by default with titans not presenting enough possible players to compete

for people who want to double check that, they were the support line for the Russian team Tornado Rox

Heres a fun one for the history books, mistakes actually has a history on support. Playing the role professionally prior to his time as the premier Tracer player for 123, where he played alongside main tank tonic who was also a support player prior to 123.

The more you know :)

It's always sad to see the old names leave, but it make sense to follow on with his law degree and such. Reminds me a bit of TwoEasy. Realistically it's kind of the reality behind esports, as far a it being a carear goes there is kind of 3 options retire into coaching, pursue another industry or move into personality work (streaming, casting, analysis work, ect). However as the guy who sat next to gumba once said, "I've spent all my years in tech wishing that I gave professional skiing" (paraphrasing a really obscure reference) always worth giving the dream a go, even if it probably won't work

Well we already know leave is confirmed for a contract next year so that would make sense for covering YangXiaoLong however it will be interesting to see if they bring in another main tank or not

Most likely stay in working with team itself when they travel as a lot of the reason Paris managed to sign sparkle was that he wanted to continue working with head coach Rush, so I'd say it is reasonable to believe that sparkle would want to work with the team itself and travel with them which would hardly be conducive to playing for an academy team given the constant change of ping, availability and time differences that would make organizing it a nightmare for a GM

I find it rather unlikely they would play him in a 2 way position for the start of the season

Philly pulled players out of unknown places before, eternal were rather known for scouring europe for talent. So I guess probably those guys

With so many players hitting free agency so many teams are opting to re-structure and grab for talent

Is the kirby fusion split worth adding to the tracker, since though he left the organisation he was in more of a management role as apossed direct coaching.

I'm assuming Australia opted out probably having already secured funding to make it to blizz con.

Someone missed the memo on the best of 7 series, that or his predicting the big brain draw

I still don't understand how the soft regionlocking works here.

Envy out here collecting EU tank lines like they're pokemon

Me looking at goats then bunker

Pain is dead, long live the pain

:(

(Just gonna copy paste a post I made on a recent match)
Honestly the fusion loan system is geneous from philly. Not only do they get hold onto right of 1st refusal for academy players, they also get the playerswage covered ( at least in part) by the loan. Meaning it's cheep talent, that's still active in the scene both preventing rust and increasing market value. So if they want to pull them back to the main team fu or owl/ sell them to other other owl teams.

Like its actually 2 strong, they don't even take up the contenders roster spots

Honestly the fusion loan system is geneous from philly. Not only do they get hold onto right of 1st refusal for academy players, they also get the playerswage covered ( at least in part) by the loan. Meaning it's cheep talent, that's still active in the scene both preventing rust and increasing market value. So if they want to pull them back to the main team fu or owl/ sell them to other other owl teams.

Like its actually 2 strong, they don't even take up the contenders roster spots

Why stop at getting one of them,
Bring on the team UK philly we all dream
for. Hayes make this shit happen

Damn, didn't see that one coming

Yeah they get away with it because punk has duel citizenship with the US. Otherwise they would need another starting na player

Lowkey, is there anything stopping them from selling players to them self (e.g. trading Muma to the valiant for literally nothing).

Feelsbadman

Its possible they are signing someone like hoon or cr0ng (granted I'd say they might sign Guardian of the dragons bench) who don't have visas thus they need a short term player with a visa ready to go so there not down 1 at the start of stage 3.

Interested in why they wouldn't have gone 2 way for the Atlantic showdown then move him to main roster. Seems a bit like there pulling a drop bears losing there main tank right before finals. And we know how that worked for them

With. Streak longer than runaway BTW

They have the minor issue that the bulk of EU talent still exists in the region, where as Runaway got to run into a much weaker Korea (with 4 top teams and shit tonne of players pulled for OWL). Meanwhile EU still has some of its strongest teams active in the region like Gigantti, Huricane. Also Huricane are pretty good at this meta not dropping a match all season

Will the angry titans finally take home the W, or will the second place curse live on for another season.
Find out next time on Total Drama Europe

It's the ever present rule of boston. If you prove yourself to be good, you can and will be sold at any moment. I assume getting rCk was just to cover there off tank role while the swim in there money baths for stage 2

Nevermind, forgot nothing made sense in OWL anymore

In a way it kind of makes sense, its kind as if it were a show match for them. Neither roster was gonna stand a chance against Nyxl so the might as well put in the B team to give them play time. Also to a small extent it reduces the footage available on the A team

Its stage 4 Dallas supporting London all over again

Flag meta 2 strong, someones about to get cut. Feelsregionlockingman :(
Grandfather program is a 1 season deal, season 2 it's 3 max whoever they are I believe

I guess this kind of demonstrates just how core boomvox is to Philly's calling structure

That's an ooft right there

Idk man, Paris are in theory a nuts goats team. They have the core of what was arguably the best goats team in the world (eagle) combined with some the best coaches around. And experience scrimming the EU teams (of which most looked better than a large number of OWL teams in terms of goats play). Combine that with how weak London looked in there game vs philly. Its not unlikely that Paris could take this reasonably handedly.

They have a dedicated translator, as well I believe there in house chef might also be bilingual though not 100 certain on that one

I just had a fun, yet unlikely thought that I feel is worth sharing.
Due to how the soft region locking will affect contenders 2019 season 1, players who were signed to an organisation prior to October 28th 2018 are not counted towards the non-resident player limit. This rule will no longer count for season 2. But it does create an interesting hypothetical. This rule will prevent any team from north america fielding a full Korean team as no team has 2 starting players that are region locking exempt.
Well kinda, there is a very sneaky work around which could lead to the most stupid end scenario in the word. Where a full Korean team wins the 4 back to back Contenders NA title for Fusion University.
Though fusions current starting roster of Snillo, Alarm, Bernar, Naist, Changsik and Elk only has 2 players eligible for this exemption (Alarm and Bernar). There is a work around the org could use. Late 2018 the org chose to loan whoru to Korean team Meta Athena. This crucially means that he is still on his original contract with the fusion. A contract which was signed prior to the cut off date. Thus making him region locking exempt . Therefore if fusion wanted to they could build a full Korean roster that is eligible to play in contenders NA 2019 season 1. All they would need to do is bring back whoru and find a Korean main support (assuming whoru or naist plays hitscan well enough)
Granted this is unlikely due to fusion recently signing CarCar to the roster, but the meme dream is still a possibility.

I mean it isn't exactly something that can be helped. Simply put there the best team and no ones beaten them in contenders outside of a show match vs hurricane. Other teams kind of just need to step up

This isn't really a good representation of the system though. Local talent at a city level I will admit makes very little sense to be your primary objective, it's like making yourself your own little region with a incredibly low population to pull from when making your team (kind of mini OCE). Though regional talent is actually huge. Paris is a good example of this at an overwatch league level. they built a brand around being the European team and marking there European (and particularly french players). You can also see this in contenders teams like Hurricane who marked there EU players to show bring EU fans to there NA brand with a Korean main team. A hurdle that would be much harder without there regional talent at a contenders level. Looking for local talent is fine if you have a large enough area to pull from like a country or region. But if your limiting yourself to 1 city, thats just stupid.

Show me the proof

Issue is they would be putting him in for colourhex, who is a projectile dps through and through so you would really want to put in klaus. Also I'm told asking isn't the strongest at being a team mate part of being on team, so i'm not 100% sure if he would make the cut.

Yeah nah, Boston's solidly fucked for their 1st 2 games. Can wait to see who ends up flexing to DPS, or if they chuck someone on 2 way for those games then have them play contenders

Surprised bqb got through unscathed, I guess there counting the x6 suspension as enough

Australian players and geographical issues

Just for a little correction, this isn't the 1st official loan in overwatch history. It's the second, with the 1st being skipjack being loaned to laser kittens from rogue
(Sorce: https://twitter.com/LaserKittenz/status/855511849965629441 )